Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Eating Adventures Part Deux

We’re actually doing pretty well in this department now…Elena no longer pinches my boob during feedings…that’s a relief! I’m glad it was a short lived phase!! I used a technique I read about to keep a teething baby from biting the nipple: expressing displeasure without scaring her, stopping the feed each time she pinched & expressing an obvious frown. After a feed or two of doing this, she stopped the pinching & hasn’t done it since…gives me hope she’ll learn not to bite me too.
As for solids, we’ve moved on from cereal to veggies now…I am proud to say that I have stuck to my decision to give Elena homemade baby food…I’m sure I’ve mentioned before but in case you forgot, let me remind you that I am LAZY!!! As much as I want to make Elena’s baby food, I thought I’d give up if it was too hard. I am happy to say it is pretty easy & am sticking with it. The worst part is the peeling, chopping & steaming but that isn’t so bad & I can often con my Mom into doing that part. I love my Magic Bullet too! It purees perfectly & is so easy to clean.
Elena has tried sweet potatoes, carrots, squash & peas so far. She, of course, loves sweet potatoes. I’m surprised to learn that I don’t mind them either. I’d never had them before feeding them to Elena. What I don’t understand is that Elena blatantly disliked carrots yet has taken a liking to peas…one strange kid, in my opinion, lol!! I mean, who likes peas & not carrots? I hate peas!!! They smell disgusting & my stomach turns every time I get a taste when I’m checking temperature while feeding Elena. Seriously! How can you like peas & not carrots?!?!?! I’m going to introduce carrots again & try to convince her that they are awesome!
Now that Elena has a few veggies under her belt, I’ve started giving her two different ones at a meal. It’s funny to see the look on her face when we switch from one vegetable to another…she’s a little miffed at first. She also does this fake little gag/cough that is hilarious…
I think we’re just about ready to jump into the world of fruits. I held off thus far because I was afraid she’d refuse vegetables if she tasted the sweetness of fruits first. Apparently that’s a myth…I swear there is so much conflicting information out there about how & what to feed your child, it’s very confusing & frustrating. It’s very important to me for Elena to be a healthy eater. I was a very fussy & picky eater…I want to try to curb that behavior in Elena. I won’t be so strict never to allow junk food…remember, I am lazy! What kind of mother would I be to deprive my daughter the pleasure that is ice cream sundaes or peanut butter cheese cake or chocolate fudge brownies…

5 comments:

  1. I love that you're lazy and still managing to make your own baby food. I'm picky, too, and I really want to make sure that Finn is less picky than me. I wonder if that's possible to do - it has to be!

    Sweet potatoes are SO good. I'm currently on a sweet potato fries kick, I've even made them myself a few times. Yummy!

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  2. It only gets more fun. I've even pureed fish for Scarlett. And Scarlett likes peas better than carrots too. I actually pureed peas and carrots together so that the carrots would be disguised.

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  3. I used to love peas, with emphasis on 'used to'. It was all thanks to an episode of Sesame Street in which Bob sang a song called 'I Hate Peas'. And I hate them to this day. lol But I also have an aversion to other strong tasting veggies so maybe I come by it more honestly that we think. Oh, and I don't like carrots either. ;-)

    My niece was pretty good with new foods when younger but she definitely became more picky over time. She used to love broccoli. No longer. :-(

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  4. Good for you to make your own baby food! That is something I want to do when I have a baby, but I also worry about it being time consuming. Glad to hear it hasn't been that way for you!

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  5. No, don't get either how one can like pees and not like carrots, lol!
    And yes, there are different methods, I for eg didn't do cereal (only later as a way of enriching her fruity breakfast:-). I know others talk about not making food especially for the baby but giving him/her from your plate (chewing it first to soften it..), etc. I think the main point is doing what you think is right and what you believe in.

    Sounds like a great technique to stop biting/pinching.

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